Barcelona - Mon June 25th

Today, we all woke up at various times. We left for breakfast together at about 9:00, though Brogan and Dad had gone previously to get some coffee. We each got a croissant with ham and cheese along with some coffee or freshly-squeezed orange juice. Then we strolled over to The Block of Discord, where four or five mansions compete for attention. My family and I visited the Casa Batllo, which was designed by Antoni Gaudi. He makes full use of the natural light and is obviously inspired by patterns of water. There are very few straight lines in the house. From there, we went shopping. I got a cute shirt an skirt along with a couple of camis. Brogan got a couple of pairs of shorts and a few collard shirts, along with a t-shirt depicting a cityscape. After that, we began to search for the Sagrada Familia, a very large and beautiful church. On the way, we stopped at De Tapas Madre for lunch, enjoying a piglet, vegetable tempura, a ham, egg and greasy french fry dish, and some amazing octopus. Upon leaving our lunch table, we walked for about ten to fifteen blocks before arriving at the Sagrada Familia. The line for entry stretched around the corner, but was fairly fast moving. While inside, we learned that the church had been started by Gaudi over 100 years ago and has been heavily influenced by nature, to the point where the large pillars on the interior branch out like trees. Currently, only four of a total of about 18 pillars have been built along with the two side entrances. When completed, the walls will be a beautiful mosaic of stained glass windows and thought inspiring stone. We then went home for siesta, using the subway as opposed to walking. Brogan, Mom and I slept hard until around eight o’clock, as dad searched for our missing baggage. 

We left the apartment at nine, and I got a pair of shorts on our way to dinner. We ate at a place called Tantarantana, which had been recommended to us by Barney, the guy who owned the place where we  are staying. The food was amazing, and the route took us to a part of the city we had not visited. While we ate our tapas, the most common form of lunch and dinner dish in Barcelona, Brogan’s napkin caught fire. Naturally, he started blowing on it, trying to put it out, but only succeeded in spreading the flames more and almost catching the guy sitting at the table next to us on fire. The waiter rushed over to us and stamped it out, taking the candle off of our table. We all laughed, as there was no harm done, especially since the restaurant was made of stone. As we left, the waiter told us a story using his limited english and hand gestures about how earlier that week a woman talking on the phone caught her hair on fire and was so focused on her conversation she didn’t notice, though luckily no one was hurt. During dinner, Dad had received a phone call where the insurance company told him that our bag had been found in Honolulu, and would arrive the day after next at about nine o’clock AM. On that note, we returned to the apartment, stopping briefly for some gelato, before falling asleep late that night.